EP1738528A1

EP1738528A1 - Protection of management frames in wireless lan

Info

Publication number: EP1738528A1
Application number: EP05725641A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jesse Walker; Emily Qi
Original assignee: Intel Corp
Current assignee: Intel Corp
Priority date: 2004-03-17
Filing date: 2005-03-14
Publication date: 2007-01-03
Also published as: TW200537852A; CN1922824A; US7805603B2; MY145534A; CN1922824B; WO2005091566A1; TWI265694B; US20050207581A1

Abstract

Briefly, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, an apparatus comprising Management Frames utilized in wireless communications associated with the apparatus, and the Management Frames being protection-capable or non-protection-capable and wherein the Management Frames indicate whether or not they are protection-capable.

Description

PROTECTION OF MANAGEMENT FRAMES IN WIRELESS LAN

BACKGROUND

[0001] Wireless networking hardware requires the use of

underlying technology that deals with radio frequencies as well as data

transmission. The most widely used standard is 802.1 1 produced by the

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). This is a standard

defining all aspects of Radio Frequency Wireless networking. A subset of

802.1 1 is 802.1 1 k - Radio Resource Management. This standard focuses on

the two key WLAN elements: access points (AP) and PC Cards.

[0002] Within this 802.1 1 standard, Management Frames,

including Action Frames are used extensively; currently there are no security

mechanisms to protect these Management Frames in the IEEE 802.1 1

standard. Thus, there is a continuing need for better ways to protect

Management Frames and thus enable more secure, efficient and reliable

wireless networking.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0003] The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly

pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the

specification. The invention, however, both as to organization and method of

operation, together with objects, features, and advantages thereof, may best

be understood by reference to the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art wireless network subject to replay attacks; FIG. 2 illustrates a prior art wireless network subject to forgery attacks; FIG. 3 is a diagram of the negotiation between an access point (AP)

and wireless station (STA) which utilizes the protection-capable and non-

protection-Capable mechanisms of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates the TKIP MPDU Format utilized in one preferred

embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 illustrates the format of the CCMP protocol construction to protection-capable Action Frames of one preferred embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 6 is a flow chart of the procedure for transmitting from the wireless station (STA); and FIG. 7 is a flow chart of the procedure of receiving at the STA. [0004] It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0005] In the following detailed description, numerous specific

details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the

invention. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the

present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other

instances, well-known methods, procedures, components and circuits have

not been described in detail so as not to obscure the present invention.

[0006] Some portions of the detailed description that follows are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits or binary digital signals within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations may be the techniques used by those skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. [0007] An algorithm is here, and generally, considered to be a self-consistent sequence of acts or operations leading to a desired result.

These include physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements,

symbols, characters, terms, numbers or the like. It should be understood,

however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities.

[0008] Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the specification discussions utilizing terms such as "processing," "computing," "calculating," "determining," or the like, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computing system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical, such as electronic, quantities within the computing system's registers and/or memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computing system's memories, registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

[0009] Embodiments of the present invention may include

apparatuses for performing the operations herein. An apparatus may be

specially constructed for the desired purposes, or it may comprise a general

purpose computing device selectively activated or reconfigured by a program

stored in the device. Such a program may be stored on a storage medium,

such as, but not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical

disks, compact disc read only memories (CD-ROMs), magnetic-optical disks,

read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), electrically

programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasable and

programmable read only memories (EEPROMs), magnetic or optical cards, or

any other type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and capable of being coupled to a system bus for a computing device.

[00010] The processes and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computing device or other apparatus. Various general purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct a more specialized apparatus to perform the desired method. The desired structure for a variety of these systems will appear from the description below. In addition, embodiments of the present invention are not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention as described herein. In addition, it should be understood that operations, capabilities, and features described herein may be implemented with any combination of hardware (discrete or integrated circuits) and software. [00011] Use of the terms "coupled" and "connected", along with their derivatives, may be used. It should be understood that these terms are not intended as synonyms for each other. Rather, in particular embodiments, "connected" may be used to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. "Coupled" my be used to indicated that two or more elements are in either direct or indirect (with other intervening elements between them) physical or electrical contact with each other, and/or that the two or more elements co-operate or interact with each other (e.g. as in a cause an effect relationship). [00012] It should be understood that embodiments of the present invention may be used in a variety of applications. Although the present invention is not limited in this respect, the devices disclosed herein may be used in many apparatuses such as in the transmitters and receivers of a radio system. Radio systems intended to be included within the scope of the present invention include, by way of example only, cellular radiotelephone communication systems, satellite communication systems, two-way radio communication systems, one-way pagers, two-way pagers, personal communication systems (PCS), personal digital assistants (PDA's), wireless local area networks (WLAN), personal area networks (PAN, and the like).

[00013] Types of cellular radiotelephone communication systems intended to be within the scope of the present invention include, although not limited to, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cellular radiotelephone communication systems, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) cellular radiotelephone systems, North American Digital Cellular (NADC) cellular radiotelephone systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Extended-TDMA (E-TDMA) cellular radiotelephone systems, third generation (3G) systems like Wide-band CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA-2000, and the like. [00014] The goal of 802.1 1 k is to make measurements from

Layers 1 and 2 of the OSI protocol stack - the physical and data link layers -

available to the upper layers. This means that it is expected that the upper

layers can and will make decisions about the radio environment and what can be accomplished in that environment. One feature 802.1 1 k will enable is

better traffic distribution. Normally, a wireless device will connect to

whatever AP gives it the strongest signal. This can lead to overload on some

APs and underload on others, resulting in lowered overall service levels. [00015] The 802.1 1 k standard will allow network management

software to detect this situation and redirect some of the users to

underutilized APs. Although those APs have weaker signals, they are able to

provide greater throughput. This will produce higher speeds for both those on

the original AP and the redirected users. [00016] The Action Frame, a class 1 IEEE 802.1 1 Management

Frame, is used to exchange radio resource measurement, radio resource requirement, network information, and network optimization control in IEEE

802.1 1 amendments (1 1 k, 1 1 h, 1 1 e, and 1 1 i). Action Frames contain valuable radio resource and network information and are subject to forgery. Forged Action frame messages can lead to poor performance or ignoring valid messages. However, the IEEE 802.1 1 standard and its amendments have defined no mechanism to protect Management Frames, such as Action

Frames, from forgery.

[00017] As can be seen in FIG. 1 , shown generally as 100, wireless networks without the capabilities provided by the present invention are subject to replay attacks. In this example, "good guy" wireless station

(STA) 105 is in wireless communication with "good guy" access point (AP)

1 10. Without the apparatus, systems and methods of the present invention, "bad guy" STA or AP 1 15 can eaves drop and record 120 the wireless

communication between AP 1 10 and STA 105 and playback selections 125

to AP 1 15.

[00018] FIG. 2 illustrates yet another problem with existing

wireless networks using only Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP). Shown

generally as 200, forgery attacks are illustrated with 802.1 1 header at 205,

IV 210, Data 215 and ICV at 220. One possible attack, caused by the fact

that Recv-Addr, Src-Addr, Dest-Addr are all unprotected, can be on packets

from a STA to the AP, corrupting the Dest-Addr and the AP decrypting data

and sending it to the forged destination. Another possible attack can be to

create a blank message with the same number of data bytes and flip some

bits and compute the ICV; XOR resulting bit-flipped message + ICV into

captured message.

[00019] One embodiment of the present invention provides a

mechanism to protect Management Frames, such as Action Frames, and

enables Wireless Stations (ST As) to exchange Management Frames, such as

Action Frames, in a secure manner. In this preferred embodiment of the

present invention a new attribute of the Action Frame is created and depends

on whether or not the Action Frame can be protected. This result is two

classes of Action Frames: protection-capable frames and non-protection-

capable Frames. By default, all Action Frame are non-protection-capable, for

backward compatibility. Non-protection-capable Actions Frames will be

"normal" Action Frames - protection never applied. protection-capable Action Frames can be protected and will be protected if local policy requires.

For example, if the Basic Service Set (BSS) policy does not require protected

Action Frames, then ST As shall send all Action Frames without protection,

including all protection-capable Action Frames. [00020] If the BSS policy requires protected Action Frames, then a

STA shall protect all protection-capable Action Frame. The STA shall not

send protection-capable Action Frames at all if the peer has not agreed to

protection. If the BSS policy requires protected Action Frames, then a STA

shall discard any unprotected protection-capable Action Frame it receives,

which includes those received before the IEEE 802.1 1 i 4-Way Handshake

completes. A STA shall never try to protect a non-protection-capable Action

Frame it sends and shall discard any it receives protected

[00021] Further, a preferred embodiment of the present invention

provides a new Robust Security Network (RSN) Capabilities bit "Protected

Action Frames" to be added for Action Frame protection negotiation.

Beacon/Probe Response source sets a bit to indicate that protection is

required for all protection-capable Action Frames.

[00022] Beacon/Probe Response source clears this bit to indicate it

does not support Action Frame protection or that protection is disabled.

Responding STAs set the bit as the Beacon/Probe Response source sets it if

they support Protected Actions Frames and clear it otherwise.

[00023] Turning now to FIG. 3, shown generally as 300, is an

illustration of the negotiation details. In this preferred embodiment, access point (AP) 310 is in wireless communication with wireless station (STA) 305. The initial communication 315 from AP with Beacon/Probe Response: RSN IE capabilities, provides that Protection Action Frame bit = 1 if AP 310 protects protection-capable Action Frames; and Protection Action bit = 0 if AP 310 does not protect protection-capable Action Frames.

[00024] Response 320 Association Request with RSN IE capabilities, provides that Protection Action bit is set as in the Beacon or Probe Response if STA 305 protects protection-capable Action Frames and sets the Protection Action bit = 0 otherwise. [00025] An example RSN IE Protected Action Frame Subfield

Specified BSS policy may be:

AP sets to 0 if Protected Action Frames not supported/enabled AP sets to 1 if Protected Action Frames supported and enabled STA sets to 0 if doesn't support Protected Action Frames • STA sets to value set by AP if it supports Protected Action Frames However, it is understood that numerous policies can be implemented in the present invention. [00026] Once STAs negotiation is finished, the protection-capable Action Frame is protected in the same ways as an ordinary data MPDU if local policy requires the protection-capable Action Frame to be protected. FIG. 4, shown generally as 400, illustrates the TKIP MPDU Format, with header part 405 and data frames 410. An expanded view of data frames 410 is shown by reference numerals 415 - 435, with IV/KeylD (4 octets) 415, Extended IV (4 octets) 420, Data ( > = 1 octets) 425, MC (8 octets)

430 and ICV (4 octets) 435. The encrypted portion 412, includes Data 425,

MC 430 and ICV435. An expanded view of IV/Key ID 415 is illustrated at

440 and 445; and an expanded view of Extended IV is illustrated at 450. [00027] Another method of protection is accomplished by applying

the IEEE 802.1 11 CCMP protocol construction to protection-capable Action

Frames. FIG. 5, shown generally as 500, illustrates the CCMP MPDU Format

of one preferred embodiment of the present invention. Header part is

illustrated at 505 and data portion at 510. The data portion 510 is expanded

to show IV/Key ID (4 octets) 515, Extended IV (4 octets) 520, Data (Octets

> = 0) 525, and MIC (8 octets) 530. IV/Key ID 515 is shown expanded at

535 and Extended IV is expanded at 540.

[00028] The CCMP Message Integrity Code protects the Action

Frame from undetected forgery. The CCMP Sequence Number protects the

Action Frame from replay. The CCMP encryption scheme maintains the

Action Frame payload as confidential. Sender's Pairwise Temporal Key

protects unicast Action Frame and Sender's Group Temporal Key is used to

protect broadcast/multicast Action Frame. An important benefit of the

present invention allows the same keys that are used for data and thus no

additional key management scheme required.

[00029] FIG. 6, at 600, is a flow chart of the procedure for

transmitting from a wireless station (STA). At 605 the Management Frame is

generated and at 610 the determination as to whether or not the Management Frame is protection-capable is made. If it is not protection-

capable, the normal Management Frame is transmitted at 640. If the

Management Frame is protection-capable, at 615 it is determined if a pair of

STAs agree to protect the protection-capable Management Frame. If no, at

640 again the normal Management Frame is sent. If yes, at 620 the

determination as to whether or not the Unicast Key and Multicast key are in

place is made. If no, at 630 there is an error and exiting occurs. If yes, then

encryption of the Management Frame takes place at 625, resulting in a

protection Management Frame at 635. [00030] FIG. 7, at 700, is a flow chart of the procedure of

receiving at the STA. At 705 receipt of a Management Frame occurs at a

STA. At 710 it is determined if a pair of STAs agree to protect the

protection-capable Management Frame. If no, the determination is made at

720 as to whether or not the Management Frame is a protected Management

Frame. If yes, at 735 the current protected Management Frame is ignored or

an error occurs. If yes at 710, then it is determined at 715 as to whether or

not the Management Frame is a protected Management Frame. If no, at 730

it is determined if the current Management Frame is a non-protection capable

Management Frame. If yes, than it is received as a normal unprotected

Management Frame. If yes at 71 5, than at 725 the determination is made as

to whether or not the Unicast Key and Multicast Key are in place. If no, than

at 750, the protected Management Frame is ignored or an error occurs. If

yes, at 725 the protected Management Frame is decrypted at 740. Then, at 742, the decryption result is checked to see if it was successful. If the decryption failed for any reason, e.g., a message integrity or message sequencing error, then the frame is ignored or an error occurs. If the decryption succeeds, at 745 the determination is made as to whether or not the current Management Frame is a protection-capable Management Frame. If no at 745, than at 750 the protected Management Frame is ignored or an error occurs. If yes at 745, than it is a normal unprotected Management Frame at 755.

[00031] Thus, the present invention as articulated above describes

an apparatus comprising Management Frames utilized in wireless

communications (such as 802.1 1 ) associated with the apparatus, and the

Management Frames being protection-capable or non-protection-capable and

wherein said Management Frames indicate whether or not they are protection-

capable. In one preferred embodiment of the present invention at least one of

the Management Frames may be an Action Frame and the wireless

communications can further include a Robust Security Network (RSN)

Capabilities bit to be added for Action Frame protection negotiation and

wherein the Action Frame protection negotiation may be provided by a

Beacon/Probe Response source setting the RSN bit to indicate that protection

is required for all protection-capable Action Frames.

[00032] If the RSN Capabilities bit is set to protection-capable, the Action Frames may be protected by applying the IEEE 802.1 1 i CCMP protocol construction or the IEEE 802.1 1 i TKIP protocol construction to the protection- capable Action Frames. Further, the CCMP protocol may use CCM to

encrypt the Management Frame payload and to protect selected Management

Frame header fields from modification. The aforementioned apparatus may be

a pair of wireless stations (STA) and wherein at least one of the pair of

wireless stations (STA) may be an access point (AP).

[00033] In yet another embodiment of the present invention is provided a method of protecting Management Frames in wireless communications, comprising establishing the Management Frames as protection-capable or non-protection-capable, and protecting the Management Frames if the Management Frames are protection-capable. The step of protecting the Management Frames may further include adding a Robust Security Network (RSN) Capabilities bit to the Management Frames for Management Frame protection negotiation, wherein if the RSN Capabilities bit is set to protection-capable, the Management Frames may be protected by applying a protection protocol to the protection-capable Management Frames. The Management Frame protection negotiation may be provided by a Beacon/Probe Response source setting the RSN bit to indicate that protection is required for all protection-capable Action Frames. The protection protocol may be the IEEE 802.1 1 i CCMP protocol construction or the IEEE 802.1 1 i TKIP protocol construction. In one preferred embodiment of the present invention at least one of the Management Frames may be an Action Frame and wherein if the RSN Capabilities bit is set to protection-capable, the Management Frames may be protected by applying to the protection-capable Action Frames. The

aforementioned CCMP protocol may use CCM to encrypt the Management

Frame payload and to protect selected Management Frame header fields from

modification. Lastly, the TKIP protocol may use RC4 to encrypt the

Management Frame payload and may use Michael, which is TKIP's message

integrity algorithms, to protect selected Management Frame header fields

from modification.

[00034] In yet another preferred embodiment of the present

invention is provided an article comprising a storage medium having stored

thereon instructions, that, when executed by a computing platform,

establishes, in a wireless communication environment, protection-capable

and non-protection-capable Management Frames, the protection-capable

Management Frames being protected. Further, the protection-capable

Management Frames being protected may be protected by adding a Robust

Security Network (RSN) Capabilities bit to the Management Frames for

Management Frame protection negotiation, wherein if the RSN Capabilities

bit is set to protection-capable, the Management Frames may be protected

by applying a protection protocol to the protection-capable Management

Frames. The Management Frame protection negotiation may provided by a

Beacon/Probe Response source setting the RSN bit to indicate that protection

is required for all protection-capable Action Frames and the protection

protocol may be the IEEE 802.1 1 i CCMP or TKIP protocol construction.

[00035] While certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes,

and equivalents will now occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to

be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such

modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.

Claims

Claims:

1 . An apparatus comprising:

Management Frames utilized in wireless communications

associated with said apparatus; and said Management Frames being protection-capable or non-

protection-capable and wherein said Management Frames indicate whether or

not they are protection-capable.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said

Management Frames is an Action Frame.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said wireless communications

further comprises a Robust Security Network (RSN) Capabilities bit to be

added for Action Frame protection negotiation.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said Action Frame protection

negotiation is provided by a Beacon/Probe Response source setting said RSN

bit to indicate that protection is required for all protection-capable Action

Frames.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein if said RSN Capabilities bit is

set to protection-capable, said Action Frames may be protected by applying

the IEEE 802.1 1 i CCMP protocol construction to said protection-capable Action Frames.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein if said RSN Capabilities bit is

set to protection-capable, said Action Frames may be protected by applying

the IEEE 802.1 1 i TKIP protocol construction to said protection-capable Action

Frames.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said CCMP protocol uses

CCM to encrypt the Management Frame payload and to protect selected

Management Frame header fields from modification.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said apparatus is a pair of

wireless stations (STA).

9 The apparatus of claim 8, wherein at least one of said pair of

wireless stations (STA) is an access point (AP).

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said TKIP protocol uses RC4

to encrypt the Management Frame payload and uses Michael to protect

selected Management Frame header fields from modification.

1 1 . The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said apparatus is a pair of

wireless stations (STA).

12 The apparatus of claim 1 1 , wherein at least one of said wireless

stations (STA) is an access point (AP).

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said STA sourcing Beacons

and Probe Responses sets to 0 if said protected Action Frames are not

supported/enabled; said STA sets to 1 if said protected Action Frames

supported and enabled; said responding STA sets to 0 if it doesn't support

protected Action Frames; and said responding STA sets to the value set by

said sourcing STA if it supports protected Action Frames.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said wireless communications

is an 802.1 1 wireless LAN.

15. A method of protecting Management Frames in wireless

communications, comprising: establishing said Management Frames as protection-capable or

non-protection-capable; and protecting said Management Frames if said Management Frames are

protection-capable.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of protecting said

Management Frames, comprises: adding a Robust Security Network (RSN) Capabilities bit to said Management Frames for Management Frame protection negotiation, wherein

if said RSN Capabilities bit is set to protection-capable, said Management

Frames may be protected by applying a protection protocol to said protection-

capable Management Frames.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said Management Frame

protection negotiation is provided by a Beacon/Probe Response source setting

said RSN bit to indicate that protection is required for all protection-capable

Action Frames.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said protection protocol is the

IEEE 802.1 1 i CCMP protocol construction.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of said

Management Frames is an Action Frame.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein if said RSN Capabilities bit is

set to protection-capable, said Management Frames may be protected by

applying the IEEE 802.1 1 i TKIP protocol construction to said protection-

capable Action Frames.

21 . The method of claim 18, wherein said CCMP protocol uses CCM

to encrypt the Management Frame payload and to protect selected Management Frame header fields from modification.

22 The method of claim 20, wherein said TKIP protocol uses RC4 to

encrypt the Management Frame payload and uses Michael to protect selected

Management Frame header fields from modification.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein said wireless communications

is wireless communications between a pair of wireless stations (STA), one

which might be an access point (AP).

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said sourcing STA sets to 0 if

said protected Management Frames are not supported/enabled; said sourcing

STA sets to 1 if said protected Management Frames are supported and

enabled; said STA sets to 0 if it doesn't support protected Management

Frames; and said STA sets to value set by said AP if it supports protected

Action Frames.

25. The method of claim 1 5, wherein said wireless communications

is an 802.1 1 wireless LAN.

26. An article comprising a storage medium having stored thereon

instructions, that, when executed by a computing platform, establishes, in a

wireless communication environment, protection-capable and non-protection- capable Management Frames, said protection-capable Management Frames

being protected.

27. The article of claim 26 wherein said protection-capable

Management Frames being protected are protected by adding a Robust

Security Network (RSN) Capabilities bit to said Management Frames for

Management Frame protection negotiation, wherein if said RSN Capabilities

bit is set to protection-capable, said Management Frames may be protected

by applying a protection protocol to said protection-capable Management

Frames.

28. The article of claim 27, wherein said Management Frame

protection negotiation is provided by a Beacon/Probe Response source setting

said RSN bit to indicate that protection is required for all protection-capable

Action Frames.

29. The article of claim 27, wherein said protection protocol is the

IEEE 802.1 1 i CCMP or TKIP protocol construction.

30. The article of claim 26, wherein at least one of said Management

Frames is an Action Frame.

31. The article of claim 29, wherein said CCMP protocol uses CCM to encrypt the Management Frame payload and to protect selected

Management Frame header fields from modification, or uses the TKIP protocol

which uses RC4 to encrypt the Management Frame payload and Michael to

protect selected Management Frame header fields from modification.

32. The article of claim 26, wherein said wireless communications is

802.1 1 wireless communications between a pair wireless stations (STA), one

of which may be an access point (AP).

33. A system to protect Action Frames in Wireless LAN

Communications, comprising: a first wireless station (STA); and a second STA in communication with said first STA, said

communication includes non-protection-capable Action Frames and protection-

capable Action Frames.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein if it is desired not to protect

Action Frames, then STAs shall send all Action Frames without protection,

including all protection-capable Action Frames.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein if it is desired to protect Action

Frames, then a STA shall protect all protection-capable Action Frames, said

protection provided by adding a Robust Security Network (RSN) Capabilities bit to said Action Frames for Action Frame protection negotiation, wherein if

said RSN Capabilities bit is set to protection-capable, said Management

Frames may be protected by applying a CCMP protocol which uses CCM to

encrypt the Management Frame payload and to protect selected Management

Frame header fields from modification, or by applying the TKIP protocol which

uses RC4 to encrypt the Management Frame payload and Michael to protect

selected Management Frame header fields from modification.

36. The system of claim 33, where said first STA shall not send

protection-capable Action Frames at all if said second STA has not agreed to

protection.

37. The system of claim 33, if the wireless communication requires

protected Action Frames, then said first or said second STA shall discard any

unprotected protection-capable Action Frame it receives.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the discard of any unprotected

protection-capable Action Frames includes those received before an IEEE

802.1 1 i 4-Way Handshake completes.

39. The system of claim 33, wherein neither said first or said second

STA shall attempt to protect non-protection-capable Action Frames it sends

and shall discard any it receives protected.

40. The system of claim 33, further comprising a STA in

communication with said second STA.